1 dead, 4 hospitalized in Texas after developing fungal infections linked to surgery in Matamoros, Mexico
The Texas Department of State Health Services is alerting the public and healthcare professionals about suspected cases of fungal meningitis among Texas residents who got surgery in Matamoros, Mexico.
Gun used in kidnapping of Americans in Mexico came from US
Federal court documents say the a man who admitted to purchasing firearms that he knew would be going from the U.S. to a Mexican drug cartel was arrested in Texas after the discovery that one of the weapons was linked to the deadly kidnapping of four Americans in the border city of Matamoros.
The people we left behind: How closing a dangerous border camp adds to inequities
Cuban asylum seeker Joel Fernandez Cabrera outside the migrant camp in Matamoros, Mexico, on Feb. 24. About 2,200 of those migrants have been admitted so far, including almost everyone from the Matamoros camp, according to the U.N. AdSalvadoran asylum seeker Vilma Vasquez lived for nearly two years in a tent at a migrant camp in Matamoros, Mexico. โThe Matamoros camp ultimately contained only a tiny fraction of those asylum seekers subjected to this cruel border policy,โ Sawyer said. Both moved to the shelter because they feared for their lives at the Matamoros migrant camp.
US gives hope to previously denied asylum seekers in camp
Late Friday night, an official with Mexico's Foreign Affairs Ministry said via Twitter that the last asylum seekers with active cases from the camp had been processed and the camp was closed. Others with closed asylum cases who were told their cases could be reopened were urged to move to a shelter. She agreed that the U.S. government would evaluate the possible reopening of closed cases for the people who remained in the camp, Sierra said. By Friday afternoon, only several dozen asylum seekers remained in the riverside camp. The Matamoros camp has been an uncomfortable monument to the exceptional policy for its residents, as well as the U.S. and Mexican governments.
5 things for Houstonians to know for Thursday, Jan. 28
A federal judge on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021, barred the U.S. government from enforcing a 100-day deportation moratorium that is a key immigration priority of President Joe Biden. (AP Photo/Emilio Espejel, File)Here are things to know for Thursday, Jan. 28:1. โHe didnโt mind if he killed usโ: Shots fired as couple caught in street takeover makes daring escapeA Houston couple described a 30-minute nightmare that grew more violent by the second. Federal judge temporarily blocks Bidenโs 100-day deportation moratorium after Texas sues administrationA federal judge in Texas has temporarily blocked the Biden administrationโs 100-day moratorium on deportations of some undocumented immigrants. Texans expected to hire Ravensโ David Culley as new head coachThe Houston Texans have offered the job of head coach to David Culley.
Aid groups aim to bring health care to migrants on way to US
The efforts are part of a growing trend in humanitarian aid that has accelerated amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has highlighted the difficulties in getting basic health care to migrants. But the group's goal is not just to care for migrants once they reach the border. It wants to offer health care along the routes migrants take. The group is working to connect migrants to health care and other resources by asking them what they need via WhatsApp. Maria de Jesus Ruiz Carrasco says she would have lost her foot if Global Response Management hadn't stepped in.
U.S. Supreme Court will hear cases on border wall funding, "remain in Mexico" policy
In the border wall funding case, the high court will consider a challenge to the Trump administration's use of about $2.5 billion earmarked to pay members of the U.S. military to instead fund construction of part of his long-promised wall on the southern border. That case, Sierra Club v. Trump, was brought by the ACLU on behalf of the Sierra Club and the Southern Border Communities Coalition. Gloria Smith, managing attorney at the Sierra Club, said the Supreme Court will hear the larger case that challenges the use of both types of Pentagon funding. "Stopping this wasteful and irreversible damage is long overdue, and we look forward to making our case before the Supreme Court,โ she said in a statement. Implemented as a way to deter migrants from seeking asylum, the policy has sent about 60,000 asylum seekers, most of them from Central America and Cuba, across the southern border.
Trump administration to cut refugee admissions to record low.
โLet this serve as a wake-up call to those who believe this administration supports avenues of legal immigration. But as of the end of the 2020 fiscal year Wednesday, that figure dipped below 1,000, according to Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service statistics. That slowdown parallels the national trend under the Trump administration, who has made revamping immigration policy one of his first-term priorities. From January 2017 to September 2019, the administration admitted about 76,200 refugees, compared with about 85,000 admitted in 2016 alone. โRefugees are the most thoroughly vetted populations that are admitted to the United States.